ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS
SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee to upgrade part of 582TH to Category A, entitled "Central Kowloon Route - consultants'Detailed design fees and associated site investigations", at an estimated cost of $99.0 million in money-of-the-day prices.

PROBLEM

We do not have the necessary resources in-house to undertake the detailed design and supervision of site investigations for the proposed Central Kowloon Route (CKR) project.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Highways, with the support of the Secretary for Transport, proposes to upgrade 582TH to Category A at an estimated cost of $99.0 million, in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices, to engage consultants to undertake the detailed design for the proposed CKR, and to carry out the associated site investigations.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of the project (582TH) we now propose to upgrade to Category A comprises -

detailed design consultancy; and

associated site investigations.

JUSTIFICATION

4.The Kowloon east-west traffic movements are currently being catered for mainly by Lung Cheung Road, Boundary Street, Prince Edward Road, Argyle Street, Waterloo Road and the Gascoigne Road flyover. Apart from Lung Cheung Road, which is located at the northern end of Kowloon, the rest of the existing east-west road links across Central Kowloon are district distributors or local distributors with frequent frontage access and signal controlled junctions. Most of these routes are already operating at full capacity.

5. The Central Kowloon Traffic Study and the West Kowloon Reclamation Traffic Study completed in 1990 predicted that the planned developments on the West Kowloon reclamation and the future South East Kowloon development1 and other Metroplan proposals will generate additional traffic which would seriously overload the existing road network. With the extensive developments planned for the Kowloon peninsula, the east-west traffic demand will increase by more than 50% in 2006 and more than 60% in 2011. These traffic forecasts were confirmed in the Central Kowloon Route - Study on Alternatives. Without the CKR, widespread and unacceptable congestion throughout the day can be expected. The forecast vehicle-capacity ratios for the existing east-west road links will range between 1.3 to 1.6 in 2006.

6. The proposed CKR will provide a high capacity segregrated trunk road for the east-west traffic in Central Kowloon. This will help to relieve congestion on the existing east-west roads, principally Lung Cheung Road, Boundary Street, Prince Edward Road, Argyle Street, and the Gascoigne Road flyover.

7. We propose to engage consultants to undertake the detailed design and supervision of the associated site investigations for the project as we do not have the necessary in-house resources.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $99 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 10 below), made up as follows -

$ million

(a) Consultants' fees

46.0

(i) review, detailed design &

tendering preparation of tender document

44.5

(ii) supervision of site investigations

1.5

(b) Site investigations

20.0

(c) Contingencies

6.0

Sub-total

72.0

(at December1996 prices)

(d) Inflation allowance

27.0

Total

99.0

(in MOD prices)

9. We will award the consultancy on a lump sum basis with provision for inflation adjustments as the duration of the consultancy will exceed 12 months. A breakdown by man-months of the estimate for consultants?fees is at the Enclosure. The consultants will supervise the site investigation works under a contract to be awarded through the normal competitive tendering process.

10. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

Year

$ million(Dec 1996)

Priceadjustmentfactor

$ million(MOD)

1998 - 99

13.8

1.16358

16.1

1999 - 2000

19.1

1.26830

24.2

2000 - 2001

16.1

1.38244

22.3

2001 - 2002

10.7

1.50686

16.1

2002 - 2003

11.8

1.64248

19.4

2003 - 2004

0.5

1.79030

0.9

Total

72.0

99.0

11. The proposed consultancy and site investigations will not give rise to any annually recurrent financial implications.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

12. We will consult the Yau Tsim Mong Provisional District Board and the Kowloon City Provisional District Board, the Provisional Urban Council and the Advisory Council on the Environment on the project immediately after we have completed the review works under the detailed design consultancy. The review works will include the environmenta, traffic and drainage impact assessments, and the production of dimensioned drawings suitable for gazetting under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13.We completed a Preliminary Environmental Review of the recommended alignment of the CKR in the feasibility study stage of the project. We will carry out a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment as part of the proposed consultancy to identify, recommend and design necessary environmental mitigation measures to be incorporated into the project.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. The proposed design consultancy and site investigations do not require any land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

15. We included the works package of the proposed CKR under 461TH - "Central Kowloon Route" in Category C of the Public Works Programme (PWP) in January 1990. In October 1994, we included 582TH in Category B of the PWP.

16. We have established the alignment of the Central Kowloon Route through two feasibility studies. The first study "Central Kowloon Route Study2" was commenced in August 1991 and completed in October 1993. As the recommended alignment from this Study would involve substantial demolition of buildings and rehousing of residents, we commenced in June 1995 the "Central Kowloon Route - Study on Alternatives2" with a view to reducing the amount of demolition and rehousing. We completed this study in January 1998.

17. We evaluated over 30 route options across the Kowloon Peninsula in the study on alternatives and confirmed that a side-by-side tunnel route north of the Gascoigne Road flyover in the west with a double deck tunnel in Tokwawan in the east represents the best alignment option for the route, taking into consideration connection opportunities with the existing and planned road networks, geotechnical conditions, rehousing requirements, demolition and land clearance, traffic impacts and implementation costs and risks.

18. The scope of works of the CKR project includes -

a 2.6-kilometre dual two-lane road tunnel between the West Kowloon reclamation and the future South East Kowloon development;

access roads at the western end of CKR to link with the Yau Ma Tei interchange of the West Kowloon Highway;

access roads at the eastern end of CKR to link with the road network of the future South East Kowloon development;

19. We have circulated an information paper to brief the Panel on Transport of the Provisional Legislative Council on the proposal contained in this paper.

20. Subject to funding approval, we intend to start the detailed design and site investigation works in May 1998 for completion in late 2003. We plan to gazette the project under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance in late 1999, following consultations with the relevant Provisional District Boards, the Provisional Urban Council and the Advisory Council on the Environment. We plan to commence construction of the proposed CKR in late 2003 for completion by late 2007.

A multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average Master Pay Scale (MPS) point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants' overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultant's offices. (At 1.4.96, MPS pt. 40 = $55,390 p.m., and MPS pt. 16 = $18,595 p.m.)

Out-of-pocket expenses are the actual costs incurred. The consultant is not entitled to any additional payment for overheads profit in respect of these items.

The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Highways. We will only know the actual man months and actual fees when we have selected the consultant through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.